


Learning moments

by apathyinreverie



Series: Team Tony [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Tony Stark, Civil War Team Iron Man, Fix-It, Friendship, Gen, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22518730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apathyinreverie/pseuds/apathyinreverie
Summary: Tony would have thought that everyone had long-since realized just how incredibly stupid of an idea it is to try to get to him through his friends.Or, the one where JARVIS is hyper-vigilant after the whole Obie-debacle, figures out Natasha's identity from the get-go, and Tony decides it might be just about time someone teaches SHIELD a couple of life lessons.
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark
Series: Team Tony [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161674
Comments: 159
Kudos: 2898
Collections: Team tony favs, Tony Cinematic Universe One-Shots, Tony Stark is more than a doormat, ToskaDre_Favs, Works worth reading a million times over, ellie marvel fics - read, superhero tingz





	Learning moments

"Sir."

Tony immediately glances up from the screen in front of him. "Yeah, buddy?"

He might be feeling less-than-grand at the moment, might be haunted by thought that he is currently dying, that his life us slipping through his fingers even as he feverishly - and sadly unsuccessfully - tries to find a solution for the thing that is keeping him alive also apparently killing him. But. Palladium poisoning or not, living on borrowed time or not, his life falling apart around him as he watches or not, it quite simply does not matter what might be going on with him, what might be happening in his life, he will _always_ have time for JARVIS and his bots. There is no universe where he ever wouldn't.

That phrase JARVIS so likes to bring out whenever Tony is feeling particularly down? The _'For you, Sir? Always.'_? A phrase that soothes Tony's soul like nothing else on this planet? Well, it most certainly goes both ways.

"A concern has been flagged during one of the newly implemented, iterative background checks," JARVIS promptly provides.

Tony raises his eyebrows, focus fully on JARVIS.

Background checks for all of his employees have long-since been standard procedure, fully automated, performed without any additional input from Tony. No one gets hired without a background check, that’s always simply been part of SI’s policy. But after the whole thing with Obie, JARVIS had also asked for some additional protocols for _regular_ and _repeated_ in-depth background checks of SI’s employees. Because, _apparently_ , checking and clearing someone once, isn’t anywhere near enough.

Once the two of them had dug into SI's ledgers, it had become apparent that Obie's under-the-table-dealings had been so wide-spread, had been going on for decades at that point, and had been so incredibly lucrative, that just a simple glance at his godfather's accounts would have promptly sent up red flags about something fishy going on. If only they had thought to check on someone they had thought they could trust.

If only.

And, dear lord, just how screwed up is Tony’s perception of people for him not to even realize that someone he considered _family_ apparently hated him enough to want him _dead_. And not in the figurative way but in the hire-someone-to-kill-him-and-then-deciding-to-finish-the-job-once-they-failed way.

Well, if nothing else, it clearly means that his people instincts have gotten entirely wonky at some point and simply cannot be relied on to tell him who to trust.

So, when JARVIS had asked for new procedures to be put in place, for new protocols to better check anyone coming near him and his, Tony had of course agreed. Like he'd ever refuse Jarv anything he asks for. Better to do regular checks on everyone around Tony and those he truly holds dear, better to be certain that no one around them has had a change of heart where their wellbeing is concerned. Better to be safe than sorry.

But still, usually JARVIS just does these things in the background, never feeling the need to bring it up with Tony in any way. Well, unless he found something fishy, of course.

“I take it something less-than-squeaky-clean popped up. So, whose _sordid_ background are we talking about here?” he asks, waggling his eyebrows. “And, _most importantly_ , how salacious is it? Should I be getting myself some popcorn to go with the story?”

Although, any and all humor abruptly vanishes from his mind with JARVIS’ reply. “The flag was raised by Miss Rushman’s background check, Sir.”

Tony’s brain immediately skips to the fiery redhead that Pepper picked up as her new PA. His eyes narrow. There is far less amusement in his voice when he says, “And I ask again, exactly _how_ sordid?”

"It would appear that Miss Rushman is in fact one Natasha Romanova, also known by the codename Black Widow, originally from Russia, specifically trained in infiltration, espionage, and assassinations, and also a known SHIELD agent."

Tony blinks.

A second.

Then, immediate, utter fury burns through him.

_SHIELD sent an assassin to infiltrate SI? An assassin to take up a spot at Pep's side?_

Tony's teeth clench. Because SHIELD putting one of theirs right into Pep's shadow, that'S most certainly meant as a threat. It doesn't even matter whether this is supposed to be a direct or indirect threat, whether they truly mean Pepper harm or whether it's just to tell Tony that they can get to his loved ones if they want to. He doesn't _care_ whether they wanted him to ever find out, whether the Russian is - and this is the most likely scenario - only using Pepper to get closer to him.

It makes absolutely no difference to him.

No one uses his friends, against Tony or otherwise. _No one._

He feels the red-hot fury burning through him turn into an ice-cold seething sort of rage instead, makes himself breathe through it.

His eyes narrow.

SHIELD should simply know better.

Because, _no one_ touches Tony's friends. Everyone, _everywhere_ has learned that particular lesson by now. There is a reason why - despite Tony being who he is - nothing ever happens to Pep or Happy or his platypus, why no one ever even threatens to go after them instead of after Tony directly. While people have learned going after Tony personall might be a bad idea, have learned that he tends to make anyone who manages to truly piss him off a worldwide laughing stock, delights in publically humiliating anyone who oversteps their bounds with him.

But. Going after his friends? So much as hinting at doing them any harm? That's just plain suicide. Even Obie knew better, had only dared vaguely threatening Pepper when she had truly gotten in his way.

Tony tends to wipe the people who have been stupid enough to make that particular mistake off the literal map, financially, socially, economically, to tear their lives apart, leaving smoking craters of destruction in their wake, as those who dared to so much as consider going after the very few people he truly holds dear helplessly watch their lives crumbling around them.

He breathes out, eyes narrowing. "Send her The Alert, J."

'The Alert' is a coded message, a simple sentence that to everyone not-in-the-know will seem random, just insane enough it might as well be Tony's usual rambling so as to not alert anyone who might be keeping tabs on him or Pepper - like a certain pseudo-PA who might even have bugged Pep's phone by now, even though Tony highly doubts some random spy is going to be able to actually crack JARVIS' coding much less without either of them realizing.

But it will let Pepper unmistakably know that something is _off_. And she'll shut down operations of _everything_ until she has a chance to talk to Tony in person.

"Already done, Sir," JARVIS announces.

"Thanks, buddy," he returns, already focusing on the keyboard of the terminal in front of him. "Now, what do you say we take a leisurely stroll through SHIELD's servers? Just some sightseeing to check what else they might have tried to slip past our notice."

"Right behind you, Sir," JARVIS promptly affirms, his neutral tone belying the viciousness Tony knows hides behind it.

Tony grins. He knows it’s not a particularly friendly smile.

+++

SHIELD's tech department may be good, the agency clearly having put quite a bit of effort into fortifying their servers, and on any other day Tony might have even called their firewalls somewhat decent.

It's still utterly laughable when pitted against the combined force that is Tony and JARVIS, much less considering just how determined they are.

It barely takes them a couple of minutes to hack the network, JARVIS already sorting through any data they come across along the way, even as they continue to dig deeper, slipping past additional security features, past firewalls and anything else standing in their way, to get at the more buried information.

All in all, it takes them less than an hour until they have all of SHIELD's data at their fingertips.

They take everything.

+++

"How you doing, buddy?" Tony asks cheerfully, about an hour or two after the two of them already withdrew from SHIELD's servers once more, having taken every single spec of data they could find.

Admittedly, there had been so much data that even JARVIS hadn’t been able to instantly process it all. So instead, they took it, stored it on an isolated part of their servers, and now – once more barricaded behind their own, rather impenetrable firewalls – they are leisurely sorting through it all

It will likely take a while, especially as some of it is in code. Not as in encrypted, but as in old-school spy code. Which means ciphers and pre-arranged letter codes.

They are both rather delighted at the mystery of it all. It's been a while since they had a truly good puzzle worth their time in front of them.

"Quite alright, Sir," JARVIS replies, voice smooth and calm but Tony can hear that he is rather entertained as well.

There aren't many things that actually require JARVIS to allocate any significant amount of processing into solving. It's a good day for both of them.

+++

Sadly, it doesn't stay that way.

+++

Turns out, SHIELD is up to quite a bit of shady shit.

The longer they dig through the data the more Tony is tempted to cringe away from it. Because some of the things he is currently reading... Yeah, he is suddenly rather glad that he is actually in no way involved with... _that_.

Well, at least there is _one_ good thing to come of this. Namely, a cure for his palladium poisoning.

The first thing Tony does is check the file SHIELD has on him. And imagine his surprise when he realizes that SHIELD apparently has a cure for palladium poisoning, even though Fury has decided to keep it to himself for now.

 _Until the most opportune moment presents itself, no doubt_ , Tony thinks with a sardonic twist to his lips.

Well, it’s also not really a ‘cure’, more of a temporary solution. A chelating agent to filter the heavy metal out of his blood, which is however also pretty toxic in itself - even more so than palladium - so nothing he could use on a permanent basis. Tony can admit that the idea is rather clever, even if a bit of a last ditch effort once everything else has failed, seeing as if he were to take their ‘cure’ regularly, its side-effects would kill him long before the palladium itself does.

Still, SHIELD is right that it should at least alleviate his symptoms for a while. And thereby might even give him back the ability to _think straight_ for a bit, buy him a little more time.

And a little bit of extra time to find himself a real cure, that's really all Tony needs.

+++

Pep calls him from the car.

It's only her and Happy on the screen, and Tony knows they've swiped the limo for bugs before she called while The Alert is still in effect.

"Tony," she greets.

"Hey, Pep," he returns promptly. "Hey, Happy."

"What's going on?" she gets right down to business, voice serious, eyes intent on him.

"Your PA is a spy," he replies in the same tone of voice, isn't going to joke about this. "Of the Russian-turned-SHIELD-agent-and-trained-for-assassination-and-espionage sort."

A second.

And then he watches Pepper's eyes narrowing into slits on the screen, almost seeming to glow with restrained anger. "You don't say," she says slowly, but Tony can hear the fury vibrating in her voice.

Yeah, SHIELD's attempt to use his friends might have very effectively succeeded in pissing Tony off. But his anger won't even _compare_ to Pep's fury at realizing that someone is trying to use her as one of Tony's weak spots in order to get to him.

And if he weren't so very angry himself, if he didn't still feel that ice-cold sort of wrath pulse through him whenever he thinks of SHIELD's games, he might even feel a little sorry for Natashalie. And Fury. And whoever else might have been nitwit enough to get themselves involved with this particular scheme.

Because if people think Tony can be vindictive, unforgiving, _merciless_ when crossed? Well, they've clearly never met a pissed-off Pepper Potts.

"What do you suggest we do?" she finally asks, eyes focused on him, clearly able to tell that he doesn't only want Rushmanova out of SI - and as far away from Pep as he can possibly get her - but that there might be something else to be gleaned from this particular situation.

"SHIELD wants something," Tony starts.

Because that's just a fact. Tony might have refused working directly _for_ Fury when the man appeared in his living room a while back right after that whole 'I am Iron Man' press conference, but he has still been working with SHIELD, has been willingly working _with_ Fury ever since on the tech side of things, absolutely willing to support SHIELD in their apparent goal to keep civilians as safe as they can possibly be. So, for the man to so stupidly risk their as-of-yet-still-decent working relationship, Fury must be angling for something better, for something _more_. Whether his ultimate goal is just to have leverage on Tony, or something a little - or a lot - more nefarious, remains to be seen.

It's always good to know beforehand just how many aces your opponent might be trying to sneak into their hand.

Pep just nods, clearly having gotten to that conclusion herself.

"So, let's give her the run-around," Tony suggests flippantly, even though he feels anything but. "Only useless, boring crap for her, possibly just invent a couple of tasks for her to complete that don't actually touch on anything important. Just until I figure out what their endgame is."

A pause.

And then, he watches as a slight smirk appears on Pep’s face, vindictive anger curling at its edges.

"I have just the thing in mind," she says, and the unholy glint that is lighting Pepper's eyes has Tony caught between wanting to grin at her in delight or possibly just curling up in terror in a corner somewhere.

Happy meets Tony's gaze on the screen, their eyes a little wide but their grins broad.

Pepper on the warpath is always a sight to behold.

* * *

Tony can’t be bothered to really listen to Fury's whole spiel about responsibility and ego – even if the man isn’t actually using either of those terms – and instead just has most of his attention focused on the cup of coffee he is currently curled around.

Shitty diner coffee or not, it's still _coffee_ , something Tony is in rather desperate need of right now.

He winces when someone in the back of the diner gets up, scraping their chair against the floor, the noise sending a lance of pain through his head. Sheesh, he hasn't had a hangover this bad since... good god, probably not since his real party years, a decade or two back.

Still, he thinks he deserved taking the night off and getting utterly wasted. Because yesterday was his birthday and Tony is still dying and he still hasn't found a cure and his friends still have no idea.

He'd ended up skipping his own birthday party entirely, honestly not feeling like company at all no matter what Natashalie had tried to whisper in his ear about ‘going out with a bang’ or whatever. Instead, he'd decided to lock himself away in his mansion and wallow in self-pity while getting spectacularly drunk all by himself.

And then, about halfway through his pity fest, his platypus had shown up. Because, when have they ever missed each other's birthday.

It's actually rather clear at this point that his best friend has figured out that something might be off about Tony, that Rhodey might suspect that something is going on with him. But to his utter relief, his sourpatch hadn't actually asked.

Because Tony doesn't want to tell his friends that the thing that's keeping him alive is also killing him, doesn’t want to do that to them. Not when there is still a chance he might find a cure. He would never forgive himself if he told them, put them through that, only to _then_ figure out a solution afterwards. As long as there is still a chance he might be able to fix this, he doesn't want to tell them at all.

So, he had been unbearably grateful when his honeybunch had decided not to demand answers and instead simply joined him in celebrating another year of Tony by getting spectacularly drunk _with_ him _._

Admittedly, the entire night is a bit of a blur in Tony’s mind now. Although, he seems to recall that - at some point - he'd given Rhodey the suit he'd coded to his platypus a while ago. Of course, only after wrangling a promise from him that he wouldn't ever let the military or anyone else fiddle with it.

Which, once Rhodey wakes and thinks about the implications of Tony giving him one of the suits he has so far been categorically refusing letting anyone so much as poke at, is likely only going to make his platypus even more suspicious about something going on with him. Hence, Tony promptly fled the mansion as soon as he woke, sneaking past Rhodey's room, and deciding to seek his coffee somewhere else.

"Stark," Fury suddenly barks at him, probably less-than-enthused about being rather obviously ignored.

Tony just looks up, blinks at him, slowly, unimpressed, utterly unconcerned. "Hm?" he hums questioningly. Like he doesn't have a care in the world.

This lot quite simply doesn’t deserve his attention. He is still so absolutely pissed about them daring to go near his friends. He quite simply can’t be bothered to pretend to care about anything they might have to say. Not to even mention that Tony already has a fairly good idea why Fury chose to seek him out, can guess where this meeting might be going.

So, he doesn’t react at all when barely seconds later someone nears their table, and then the Spider slides smoothly into the seat next to Fury.

"Hello, Tony," she greets with a falsely polite nod, face impassive but just enough smugness glinting in her eyes to let him know that she is rather looking forward to his reaction to 'realizing' that she was a spy all along.

God, does he live to defy other people’s expectations.

He proceeds to smoothly give her a just as amicable nod in return. "And hello to you, too, Miss Romanov. How wonderful of you to join us here. The coffee is honestly not the greatest and the donuts are admittedly a little chalky but aside from that it's a truly lovely morning we're having." He pauses for a second if for no other reason than to amp up the dramatics a little. "Also, I am of course _ever_ so surprised to see you here. Truly. The surprise almost has me speechless." The sarcasm is rather blatant.

There is a second of silence at the other side of the table.

Tony just raises an eyebrow at the two of them, but takes care not to actually give anything about what he is feeling away. Well, beyond just how utterly unimpressed he is with them. He knows his mask of utter nonchalance will hold up even against their super-spy senses, has bullshitted far more dangerous people than these two before with far greater things at stake. Not that SHIELD - and especially, Fury himself - aren't _dangerous_.

But they also made a mistake. They overplayed their hand.

Because for them to try and play Tony like this, to try _this_ hard to manipulate him? They wouldn’t go through this much trouble unless they want him for something, possibly even _need_ him for something. Which not only means that they aren't going to do anything that might harm him, but also that Tony has always had the upper hand. He knows it and they know it as well. It's their own fault for also giving him a shitload of leverage on them to go with that.

Although, on that note.

He points between both of them rather theatrically, "Just to be clear, if either of you comes near me with any sort of needle or otherwise-pointy-thing, the paperwork for the assault charges have already been prepared and will be filed forthwith. Pepper takes that sort of thing very seriously. New and improved SI policy, you know, no unwanted touching, beware stranger-danger, and all that."

Ah, there it is. At the mention of needles, the implication that Tony knows about their trump card, their 'cure' for the palladium poisoning, the briefest flicker of not-quite-surprise slithering through Fury's eyes. As he realizes that Tony simply knows _too much_ , that the only way he could know about this is if he truly knew about everything beforehand. And the best part? There is no way for them to ever figure out exactly how much Tony knows or even since when he’s known. Tony is fairly certain that just that question alone is going to drive these two super-spies – with their endless need to know everything - utterly insane.

He smiles, feeling rather accomplished at this point.

And, well, come to think of it... Tony might as well just leave it at this, leave these two with the question what _else_ Tony might know.

So, he casually gulps down the rest of his coffee and then nonchalantly gets up from his seat.

"Stark," Fury speaks up, reprimand in his voice, the expectation of Tony listening to him clear in his tone. "Where do you think you're going."

Tony just raises an unimpressed eyebrow at this last-ditch attempt to exert control over him. "Leaving," he returns flippantly. And then, in the same tone of voice but with a sudden weight, a certain purposeful significance to it, "Since you have absolutely _no hold_ _on me_."

It's that last sentence that finally seems to drive it home for Fury, Tony can see it in the man's eyes. The realization that they miscalculated, that they overplayed their hand. And the fact that Tony _knows_ it. Knows that there is something they want from him - rather desperately so, going by their actions so far -and also knows that he is the one with all the leverage here.

Sure, he still isn't entirely sure just what it is they want from him. But it also doesn't matter. The fact remains that they need him, while he _most emphatically_ does not actually need them.

So, from now on, if they want something, they'd better check themselves, their egos, and their methods before they dare come near him and his again. Lest Tony decide to rid himself of the deadweight entirely. And, going by the narrowing of his eyes, the one-eyed pirate gets very much just what Tony is and isn’t saying.

There are no more protests as he finally moves to step past them, although he simply can’t help pausing right when he is about to step past their bench, snaps his fingers as though suddenly remembering something.

He tilts his head slightly, looks straight at Romanov, does nothing to suppress the slight smirk now on his face. "Also, in case this wasn't clear enough for you. You are fired." He pauses, smirk widening as he adds rather cheerfully, "Well, you've been given the run-around with meaningless, mind-numbingly boring bullshit ever since you started. But consider this your official notice. And also, Pepper says she'll see you in court. I hope you'll have fun defending yourself against all those corporate espionage charges."

Then, he wriggles his fingers at them in cheerful goodbye, before leisurely continuing on, stepping outside, casually dismissing the two of them and SHIELD in its entirety, as his mind already skips forward to everything else he has on his agenda today.

Well, besides saving his own life, of course. By figuring out how to cure himself from the side-effects of the palladium. Palladium which he needs for the arc reactor, which he built to protect himself from the bomb remnants in his chest. Remnants of his own bomb which are still there even after the life-saving operation performed on him without his consent in a cave in the Afghan desert by another kidnap victim. Because his godfather got a little greedy and decided to put out a hit on Tony.

Honestly.

"Just when did my life get so exciting, Jarv?" he wonders out loud.

As always, JARVIS needs no explanation just what he might be talking about. "One year, five months, three days, and approximately fifteen hours ago, Sir." The briefest pause. "I maintain, it is most certainly solely Obediah Stane's fault."

There is a certain unforgiving viciousness in JARVIS' tone when he says Obie's name that Tony delights in hearing. People always forget the implications of JARVIS being so very aware, of being different but still being very much a person. Because JARVIS likes certain people, dislikes others, and he can hold grudges like no one else.

"I agree. Let's blame Obie. For all of it," Tony grins.

"Indeed," JARVIS returns. "May I also proceed in filing those corporate espionage charges against SHIELD as well as against one Natasha Romanova?"

"You bet, buddy. Go right ahead."

Barely a second. "The paperwork has been filed."

"Thanks, Jarv," Tony grins, breathes in the – admittedly not-so-clean – air around him, but feeling like this might just turn out to be a rather good day. Who knows how many he'll still get of those.

Sure, he’s been looking for a cure and he’ll continue to do so, but _just in case_ he also has all of his affairs in order now. SI is Pepper’s now and he’d bet his entire fortune that the company will only flourish under her. He passed on the suit to Rhodey who is a better man than Tony ever was, far better suited for the whole superhero gig. And SHIELD has been warned very effectively to stay away from his friends.

Life is good.

"Where to now, Sir?" JARVIS’ calm voice asks him.

_Hm, good question._

Well, there _is_ in fact something he's been meaning to check out… Ever since they dug through SHIELD's servers and came across those images of Howard's old plans for the Stark Expo, something has been niggling at Tony’s mind. He hasn't been able to figure out just _what_ it is about those plans that his brain clearly keeps jumping at, but there is most certainly _something_.

But with his mind quite a bit clearer ever since he started using the 'cure' to counteract the effects of the palladium poisoning, the feeling that he is _missing_ something about those plans has only continued to intensify.

So, maybe he should take another look.

Because with all this super-secret spy stuff that Tony keeps stumbling across – you know, like shady government agencies, and superpowers, and no one really being who they say they are… Well, he knows _better_ now than to believe anything to be as it might appear at first glance.

And Tony has always liked a good puzzle.

So, he barely even hesitates. "Let's go home, Jarv," he says.

"Inputting home coordinates as we speak, Sir," JARVIS promptly confirms, his voice calm and forever-steady in his ear as his visor is already coming down, his thrusters humming to life.

 _Home_. Home sounds good.

Home where Rhodey is, likely awake at this point but still nursing his own hangover from yesterday’s drinking spree. Home, where JARVIS and his bots are waiting. Home, where Tony could easily ask Pep and Happy to join them for breakfast.

Because Tony might be dying, but he also still has a bit of time left. Time to figure out a cure, and time to spend with his friends. Whether he’ll ultimately fail at curing himself or not - whether he’ll be dead from palladium poisoning in a couple of _weeks_ , whether it’s this superhero gig that might kill him in a couple of _months_ , or whether he’ll just die of old age in a couple of _decades_ – either way, he’ll be damned if he doesn’t use whatever time he has left on this earth to its absolute fullest. Without any deadweight holding him down.

And as the suit lifts him into the air, towards the sky, towards _home_ , Tony smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> So, there is no reason for this. No reason aside from my conviction that Tony simply deserved so much better right from the start. So, there XD
> 
> Would love to know what you think :D


End file.
